Based on "American Fiction, 1901-1925: A Bibliography" by Geoff Smith, American Fiction, 1911-1920 offers 2,962 first editions of adult American fiction published from 1911 to 1920, comprising approximately three-quarters of all American adult fiction published within the United States. These works reveal much about the socioeconomic, political and religious tenor of the time as America became a distinctly 20th-century nation.

American Fiction, 1911-1920 was compiled from the holdings of the William Charvat Collection of American Fiction. William Charvat, distinguished professor of American literature in the Department of English at The Ohio State University, was in many ways a pioneer in his approach toward the analysis and interpretation of American literary culture. Under his guidance, the American fiction collection at The Ohio State University Libraries (OSUL) became not only the most significant single research book collection of OSUL, but also one of the best research collections of its kind in the nation.

Established in the late 1950s, the collection was officially named the William Charvat Collection of American Fiction upon Charvat's death in 1966. Charvat recognized the importance of a broad-based approach to the study of American literature and that in addition to having the works of major canonical writers always at hand, scholars needed access to those lesser lights better known for their local-color fiction, popular genre writing and treatment of disreputable, if not repugnant, subjects within the realm of fiction. Charvat believed that a comprehensive library collection of a particular area within a national literature, if not an entire national literature itself, was an indispensable resource for the scholarly community.

Complete Collection: 502 reels in 10 units